The filter'd tribute of the rough wood land. O! hither lead thy feet! Pour round mine ears the livelong bleat [folds, Of the thick-fleeced sheep from wattled Upon the ridged wolds, When the first matin-song hath waken'd loud Over the dark dewy earth forlorn, Forth gushes from beneath a low-hung cloud. 5. Large dowries doth the raptured eye And like a bride of old With music and sweet showers Unto the dwelling she must sway. [Memory, Well hast thou done, great artist In setting round thy first experiment With royal frame-work of wrought gold; [essay, Needs must thou dearly love thy first And foremost in thy various gallery Place it, where sweetest sunlight falls Upon the storied walls; For the discovery And newness of thine art so pleased thee, [fairest That all which thou hast drawn of Or boldest since, but lightly weighs With thee unto the love thou bearest The first-born of thy genius. Artistlike, Ever retiring thou dost gaze On the prime labor of thine early days: No matter what the sketch might be ; Whether the high field on the bushless pike, Or even a sand-built ridge Of heaped hills that mound the sea, Where from the frequent bridge, The trenched waters run from sky to sky; rose, Or a garden bower'd close With youthful fancy reinspired, And those whom passion hath not blinded, Subtle-thoughted, myriad-minded. He spake of beauty: that the dull Life in dead stones, or spirit in air; And said the earth was beautiful. He spake of virtue: not the gods Most delicately hour by hour With lips depress'd as he were meek, Before him lay: with echoing feet he | There was no blood upon her maiden threaded The secretest walks of fame : robes Sunn'd by those orient skies: The viewless arrows of his thoughts But round about the circles of the were headed And wing'd with flame, globes Of her keen eyes In the heart of the garden the merry bird chants, It would fall to the ground if you came in. In the middle leaps a fountain Ever brightening With a low melodious thunder; All day and all night it is ever drawn From the brain of the purple mountain Which stands in the distance yonder: It springs on a level of bowery lawn, And the mountain draws it from Heaven above, And it sings a song of undying love; And yet, tho' its voice be so clear and full, [so dull; You never would hear it; your ears are So keep where you are: you are foul with sin; [came in. earth if you It would shrink to the O hither, come hither and furl your sails, Come hither to me and to me: And merrily, merrily carol the gales, And the spangle dances in bight and bay, And the rainbow forms and flies on the land Over the islands free; And the rainbow lives in the curve of the sand; Hither, come hither and see; And the rainbow hangs on the poising wave, And sweet is the color of cove and cave, We will kiss sweet kisses, and speak sweet words: O listen, listen, your eyes shall glisten Runs up the ridged sea. Who can light on as happy a shore THE DESERTED HOUSE. I. LIFE and Thought have gone away Leaving door and windows wide: Careless tenants they! 2. All within is dark as night: |